Techno-economic analysis of photovoltaic battery system configuration and location☆

Abstract

The techno-economic analysis investigates first the impact of tilt angle and orientation on the production profile of a rooftop solar generator and the related performance of a photovoltaic battery storage system for single family houses at a specific location in Germany. Then, a technical comparison to a different location in Almeria in Spain is performed.The calculations are model-based and take into consideration the consumer load profile, technical and economic photovoltaic battery storage system parameters as well as the framework of regulations for the case of Germany. The parameters “share of self-consumption”, “degree of autarky”, and “economic efficiency in terms of levelized cost of electricity” make up the focus of the modelling results. It is concluded that self-consumption and degree of autarky are strongly and inversely related. In terms of system design, a trade-off has to be made between aiming for high self-consumption and a high degree of autarky.Key findings from the modelling results reveal that in Lindenberg in Germany, a south orientation gives the highest degree of autarky and the lowest levelized cost of electricity, but with the lowest share of self-consumption as well. For rooftops oriented towards east/west, an interesting possibility could be to split the total installed capacity (equally) between the two orientations. This makes it possible to benefit from the high self-consumption of the east orientation and the high degree of autarky of the west orientation. In general, it has to be considered that the optimum orientation strongly depends on the consumer load profile. The technical analysis shows that changing the location to Almeria increases degree of autarky and decreases share of self-consumption for south orientation with different magnitude that depends on the load profile. Finally, the results show opposite impacts that depend on orientation and location when switching from a tilt angle of 30° to 45°. For a south orientation in Almeria and Lindenberg, the degree of autarky is increased when approaching the optimum tilt angle, while for west and east orientations in Lindenberg self-consumption increases.